“There is ample evidence that the former president is more humble and curious than the Swaggering President Bush he enacted while in office. And his curiosity about art is not only genuine but relatively sophisticated.”

“I’m not sure how the art in this volume will hold up to critical eyes,” he writes in the introduction. “After all, I’m a novice. What I am sure of is that each painting was done with a lot of care and respect.”

The 70-year-old says he was inspired by the work of Lucian Freud, Wayne Thiebaud, Jamie Wyeth, Ray Turner, Fairfield Porter and Joaquín Sorolla.

“For the first time in my sixty-six years, I picked up a paintbrush that wasn’t meant for drywall,” he wrote. “I selected tube of white paint and another labeled Burnt Umber. While I wasn’t aware at the time that it was a color, I liked the name, which reminded me of Mother’s cooking.”

And for each of the subjects, he tells their story with what Mr Kennicott saw as “genuine empathy”.

Describing Cpl. David Smith’s recovery from a suicide attempt, Mr Bush writes: “Dave sought professional counseling and got prescription medication for his anxiety, depression, and nightmares. Having confronted his trauma and learned to understand and accept it, he began building a new life.”

Bush paintings

Another of his subjects, Petty Officer 3rd Class Chris Goehner, suffered from PTSD.

Mr Bush writes: “Little by little, Chris started to recover. He got down from twelve medications to zero. He realized alcohol didn’t numb the memories but exacerbated them. He started to participate in marathons and triathlons as therapy.”

The profits from the book will be donated to a military and veterans’ initiative run by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.